About S400SX
The employees working on the AirWerks team have been asked on several occasions,
why do you call them S400SX’s? Well, there’s a story behind the madness
as always…
The formal S400SX turbocharger program came to life in 2004 as a project that teamed the
aftermarket team of BorgWarner with GM Racing. The objective of AirWerks program
was to help create reliable and consistent boost for GM’s Pro FWD sport compact
race cars. After several meetings with the GM Racing team, the basic design and
performance targets were established. With the information in hand, the AirWerks
engineers were off to the drawing board, R&D headquarters, and the prototype
model shop to make what was soon to be history.
The S400SX turbochargers were constructed under the supervision of the BorgWarner Turbo
Systems Aftermarket product development team and select members of the North American
Technical- Center Headquarters. The units were built as prototypes and the suffix
“X” was added to the standard model nomenclature to help distinguish
this unique motorsport component from the standard commercial product assembled
at the same location. The S400SX was off and running and applied to some of the
fastest cars sport compact racing had ever seen.
By the end of 2005 race season, the S400SX had begun to create a presence in the
sport compact arena. The GM Racing Cobalt was the first and only front-wheel-drive/four-cylinder
to surpass 200mph in the quarter mile. The Cobalt also ran the quickest and fastest
FWD pass ever with 7.292s @ 201.61. The very same year, Brent Rau pushed his Mitsubishi
Eclipse to a new ET record of 6.976 and established a new Pro Outlaw RWD MPH record
of 198.29. The introduction of the S400SX with these initial race teams proved to
form lasting relationships which are still honored today.
Brian Ballard, another BorgWarner-AirWerks sponsored racer, has been testing the
S400SX line of turbochargers for the past two years in his CSI Racing Chevy Cobalt. Ballard
has repeatedly won multiple races, in part, due to boost from the BorgWarner-AirWerks
units. Ballard, who has title championships in 2004, 2005, and 2006, added to his
laundry list of accolades to become the 2007 NOPI/NDRA Turbo Street champion, while
spooling up with the S400SX and helping to introduce the line-up to the motor sports
world…
AirWerks involvement in the sport compact arena created a BorgWarner first…
a purpose built, engineered for performance only, production turbocharger. While
all BorgWarner turbochargers, including the “SX”, receive a full nomenclature
designating content detail of the unit; the AirWerks team decided to construct these
units differently and retain the “SX” suffix, which is fitting for a
unit with racing heritage and designed for excitement.
The S400SX is a serviceable twin hydrodynamic journal bearing turbocharger that excels
due to a high-pressure ratio compressor stage utilizing extended-tip technology
and a high efficiency turbine stage. This specialized turbocharger configuration provides
ultra-fast response and more than 70 PSI of boost and if the AirWerks team has anything
to do with it, it will continue to well into the future.
A new series of the S400SX turbochargers were designed specifically to bolt-into existing
high performance applications and offer numerous unique turbine housing configurations
for a variety of application requirements. Although the BorgWarner sponsored race
teams still receive special attention and unique combinations, please know that
the units which are now available and known as the “SX” series have
a racing heritage in their oil galleries and owe their existence to the sport.